


Ignis Aurum Probat

by heartbeatsinreverse



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Light Angst, The first chapter hasn't been edited to be canon yet, that will change soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 10:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbeatsinreverse/pseuds/heartbeatsinreverse
Summary: "We'll get 'em next time."A vignette from before the current reality, focusing on a flash of Barry's life among his chosen family as they flee the Hunger.





	1. Memento Vivere

**Author's Note:**

> Ignis Aurum Probat: Fire tests gold.

To prepare for one’s death is not so unusual a thing. Communicating religious desires, writing wills, alerting families to desired burial practices are all expected for mortal creatures.

Barry Bluejeans’ preparations are a bit more unorthodox. Each of the members of IPRE had at least one clone on standby at any given time. Thus why he stands in front of his own motionless form stuck behind green glass. The ship is quiet and only lit by glowing green strips; it was what passed for nighttime in space.

Barry knows he should be asleep. There’s hardly a good reason to be creeping through the clone room, much less with a mission briefing the next day. It’s not like staring at his possible backup body will change whatever might happen. He runs his hands through his hair, taking comfort in the physicality of the movement. Glancing again at his clone, he ducks in the thin space between the glass tank and the wall, withdrawing a piece of chalk from his pocket. Kneeling, Barry draws a short line at the base of the tank. If he dies on this mission, it will be his sixth body.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The various members of IPRE- every person yet alive who he would count among his kin- had ranged for two months throughout the prime material plane in this particular version of the universe. All striving to find something or someone who could help them to destroy the Hunger. This catastrophic entity they had drawn to world after world. Universe after universe.

Barry wasn’t sure how many deaths they had caused. He knows that the Hunger would've been gnawing on similar universes and planes even without their existence to attract it. But still, sometimes the guilt catches him off guard.

Davenport and Lucretia and Merle all stayed on the ship. They stay in contact with the two landing parties while tracking the Hunger’s path through the planes. Merle had wanted to go with one of the parties- use the Gaia sash to keep them safe- but Davenport had vetoed that. They had to keep the Relics safe.

Which was all well and good, but Barry suspected the real reason Merle was being kept back. Barry didn’t keep strict count of the others’ deaths, but Merle was easily at twice the deaths of any of the others. He had a real knack for protecting his friends at his own bodily expense. Last reality, his lich form had barely escaped the waves of the Hunger as it crashed down upon the prime material plane. So Merle was kept back to strategize and grow crops to refill their food stores.

Taako and Lup were dropped off on the other side of the continent of Faerun, trying to track down the Double of a woman who they’d met several universes ago. She had posited a way to use planar doorways to trap the Hunger between universes. Her name was Maureen. Barry hoped that she could deliver them from the nightmare relentlessly pursuing them.

He and Magnus land along the coast, tasked by Davenport with finding a natural gemstone prevalent in the area. In quantity it could deliver the abundance of power their ship’s engine used to punch between realities. He misses his partner Lup dearly. But he knows she and Taako are more than capable of looking after themselves.

Huddled in the small camp he and Magnus had been living in for the last few weeks, Barry warms himself at the fire. After a haul of those dark orange gemstones sent up to the ship earlier that day, they had earned a coveted day of rest. Magnus hums tunelessly while carving something from a block of wood. They’re within a cluster of natural rock formations, a small tent tucked away with two logs for seating ranged around the fire. Except for this cluster of boulders, there’s windswept heath moors as far as the eye can see east, west, and south. To the north is a cliff with a sharp drop to the sea not 200 paces away from their camp. Peat earth and wooden-stemmed plants rest underfoot, and Barry breathes easy.

Magnus glances at him. “How are you, Barry?” His voice is casual, absorbed in his woodcarving.

“I’m alright. Got to send a message to Lup via Davenport earlier. Hopefully the message he delivers is the same one I sent her.” Magnus grins, eyes shooting up from his carving for a second.

“Better hope he doesn’t pass message duty off to Merle, cause he’ll definitely add something lewd on just to fuck with Taako.”

Barry laughs hard at that, pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Well I got a promise from Dav that he’d pass on the message himself, so I guess we’ll see.”

Barry looks more closely at Magnus. Since they all consistently die and reenter younger bodies, their chronological and physical ages didn’t always line up. Magnus hadn’t died for a while. As a result, his hands possessed the scars and scratches from woodworking that Barry remembers were present when they first met. His heart surges with some unidentifiable emotion, remembering the first time they all met, the path their lives had taken to reach this reality, universe, plane, place. God, why couldn’t they have been left alone, scientists and explorers and family.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then the Hunger did what it always did. It caught up to them.

Barry and Magnus’ stones of farspeech both light up at the exact same time a single pillar of black oozes from the sky, dripping in shimmering hues and landing half a mile south.

“Hello-” Davenport’s voice is muffled as he shouts into the stone, terror evident in his tone. “Please, do you hear me, the Hunger is landing close by you, you need to get to the extraction point now.”

Magnus whips the stone of farspeech up and says a terse, “We copy, heading for the point.” He grabs his shield and axe before turning to Barry. Barry has drawn a short wand, and nods once at Magnus before they take off running for the cliff’s edge. Columns of darkness are leaking onto the ground around them. One patch lands not 20 paces to their right and figures of darkness begin to form as the two men sprint past. Barry blasts magic missiles back at intervals, only turning to look once they reach the edge of the cliff.

Backs to the roaring sea, he and Magnus can see hordes of the Hunger’s minions forming. Several groups of the grotequeries had already formed bodies and were running up the cliff towards them. Even now, in what must be the tenth or eleventh encounter with them, Barry feels a chill infect his spine looking at them. The monsters trample the grass underfoot, unnervingly silent in their approach.

Magnus speaks from his right side as Barry fires spell after spell into the wave of encroaching darkness.

“Do we want to jump off?”

It’s not an unreasonable question; they’ll almost certainly die before the ship can teleport them away regardless. Better to jump off and ensure their lich forms can escape. Flashes of blue and red from Barry’s wand carve into the horde, and the answer to Magnus’ question comes too quickly for Barry to dodge. A shard of darkness flies through the air, lodging itself in his chest. It’s cold, and it hurts, and it means Barry has seconds before going lich.

Turning his head to the side, Magnus looks stricken. It's nothing any of them hadn’t had happen before (though the Hunger’s idea of using projectiles is new). But Barry knows how shitty it is to see your friend run-through and sort-of dying in front of you.

“Well,” Barry smiles, clapping a hand on Magnus’ shoulder with his remaining strength. “We’ll get 'em next time.”


	2. Aegri Somnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Davenport's stress has never been so high, reality is tenuous at best; but he won't ask for help. A captain always goes down with the ship, and he is the very best of captains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi it's finally me again! Each character's chapter is going to be themed on their relic, and (unless my plans drastically change) advancing in chronological time).

     It felt like thousands of years had passed to Davenport, but it had only been sixty- or sixty-one? Exhaustion was taking its toll- his own sense of whether he was awake or dreaming had been slipping. With the long hours it took to stay just one step ahead of the Hunger, it’s no wonder he doesn’t get much sleep.

     Still, he keeps up appearances. He was their leader, the man responsible for the mess they were in. And goddamn it if he wouldn’t put in twice as much effort trying to get them out of it.

     Leaning back in his desk chair, Davenport pinches the bridge of his nose. It seemed like he always had a headache, when he finished reading something. Poring through the few texts they’d managed to scavenge on planar entities had filled his whole day, except for a small break for lunch where he’d laughed and joked as normally as he could with the others.

     It was wonderful seeing Lup and Barry grow closer; sometimes they felt like the only bright spot onboard. He fondly remembers meeting them both, in their original reality. Barry had been a highly respected researcher on planar travel, as well as more secretly studying necromancy. His expertise with life and death allowed him to begin research on an experiment to remain past death as a lich entity, although as of yet he had asked Barry to keep these experiments a secret. 

     Lup and Taako he’d run into when asked to sit in on senior Academy students as they completed their magic practicum. They had insisted on completing the test together, at whatever difficulty the instructors found acceptable for two mages. They passed with flying colors in half the next shortest time, and Davenport offered them a job on the spot. Taako jumped at the chance to learn more about magic, and Lup had just been glad to see more of what was out there (and light a few baddies on fire given the chance).

     Davenport misses that, back when they’d all just gotten together, the excitement of it all. Science and adventure always just around the bend while planning their voyage. He’s not regretful that he brought them along and had a family on this neverending voyage, or fled their previous world when the Hunger appeared. But he would give anything to have never seen the Hunger at all.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Lup and Taako are out wandering with Merle, looking at plants for those with unusual magical properties. In a fit of extraordinary bravery Lucretia has agreed to accompany Magnus out to visit a nearby village to see and document their trading system. Only Barry and Davenport remain behind, Barry working out in front of the ship examining specimens in the bright sun while Davenport reads sedately through Lucretia’s first journal. If pressed he would claim to be looking for clues from their first encounter with the Hunger, but really he’s just dozing and reminiscing. They’d landed and seen the eyes ten months prior, had located the Light within a week of landing, so they had two months before catastrophe.

     Well, they should have had two months.

     Davenport is still sitting legs propped up, reading Lucretia’s journal, when he gets a call from Lup’s stone of farspeech. Even before answering, Davenport feels a pit grow in the center of his chest. 

     “Holy shit dude, you need to book it,” Lup stutters out in a hurried whisper. “Dav, the Hunger’s here early; it landed a couple minutes ago basically on top of us.”

     “How? How is- No, no, unimportant. How far away is the Hunger from the ship?”

     “I’d say a few minutes at most,” she says, followed by “Oh shit,” and then Lup’s stone cuts out.

     Booting up the exterior scanners takes precious seconds- why had they thought they were safe?- and the image that clicks onto the screen shows Barry fighting agents of the Hunger not 30 yards from the ship. Davenport doesn’t hesitate; he slams the hatch button to close the ship up, and the ship launches upwards seconds before Barry is cut down.

     Davenport grits his teeth and ignores the pang of yet more death, dodges the Hunger’s tendrils trying to bring the ship to safety. Stomach acid crawls up his throat, acrid panic at being the last man standing. Lucretia and Magnus’ stones of farspeech are reported destroyed just as the ship leaves the atmosphere of this world. The Hunger is still reaching out to grab the ship, and Davenport guides them to the edge of this reality with opal darkness like a clutching hands behind him.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

     When he dissolves into light and is reformed, Davenport is terrified. Every time so far that they’ve died they’ve all come back, but they have no idea what the limits of this game are. He’d nearly lost  _ everyone _ , lost the ship, any hope of stopping the Hunger before it ate all of reality. 

     His panic is so severe, it takes Barry half a minute of gently shaking Davenport to get his attention.

     “Cap, you were having a nightmare- seemed pretty bad. You doing alright?” And no, no- that doesn’t make sense. Davenport sits up, sees Lucretia’s journal tumbled to the floor, and pieces together his thoughts into a semblance of order.

     “I… I was dreaming?” His lips are dry, skin pulsing with heat and discomfort and  _ weakness. _ Davenport doesn’t have nightmares; he’d had Taako charm them away a long time ago, tired of wasting valuable rest time on useless worries. No one’s found him like this in years.

     So he reacts the way he always does to fear- locks it down, goes into captain mode.

     “Thank you for your concern, I’m fine. I just need to go wash up, must’ve fallen asleep- too many long hours.” His words hitch at the end, stupid fucking weakness pushing its way out into the light, and Barry frowns. 

     “Dav, are you su-”

     “I’m fine!” The outburst is too loud, belies his words, and it’s all Davenport can do to stand up, muscles taut, and march his way to his bathroom before letting the tears flow out. He doesn’t sob, doesn’t allow himself to attach any particular significance to them. He just lets them leave, washes his face once they stop, and trudges back out to the common area where Barry- damn him- waits patiently.

     Davenport hops into a chair and sighs. Barry doesn’t seem to have any intention of starting the conversation. That’s one thing he definitely has over on the rest of IPRE, barring Lucretia- the man doesn’t rush unduly into conversation. If it’d been Lup or Magnus, he’d already be getting hugs and told how it’s okay to cry and other shit that doesn’t apply to him.

     Finally, he decides to open up the small amount he thinks (hopes) is both the bare minimum and a healthy amount for his sanity. “Had a nightmare. It won’t happen again, I don’t think; Taako gave me a charm a while ago to block them. Just need a top-up, I’m guessing.”

     Barry nods. “I won’t ask about it- I’ve got enough fodder for my own. If you want to tell someone, Merle’s got a good ear for confessionals and knows when to stay quiet. But Dav-” Barry shifts, lets him see the exhaustion on his face, “if you’re having trouble, you gotta do something. I don’t know what- lords know I have my own shit- but you have to fix it or learn to deal. We’re a team, but you’re our Captain. If you go down, we all go down- and the solution ain’t to bottle it up.”

     Davenport nods, trying to consider what Barry’s saying but trapped in a maze of responsibility. He probably won’t change his behavior much, but he appreciates the concern nonetheless. 

     When Barry calls the rest of IPRE and has them all trek back to have family dinner (with a smothering dollop of concern from Magnus and Lup), he is significantly less appreciative. The dream he has that night- of a future wrought in gold and joy- almost makes him reconsider having Taako renew the charm. Almost.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If this gets any sort of response I may add other vignettes from some of the other members of IPRE. My main tumblr is http://nydescynt.tumblr.com/ and my TAZ tumblr is http://ravenandram.tumblr.com/ if you have any questions or requests. I have lots of ideas for TAZ fics so hit me up if you want to see something specific!


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